Quick Thinking
by Jenifer Cullen
Summary: What if Hiccup thought up something to save Toothless when he saved him from the Nightmare. How would it change things?


**I'm back after a long time but this time with a HTTYD fic.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon**

* * *

 **Quick Thinking**

Hiccup took a deep breath as he got ready to fight or rather, train the nightmare. He only hoped that he's still be alive after the debacle and that the Vikings would be too surprised to do anything but stare at him.

Boy was he wrong. Everything was going fine for the first few minutes. He'd made Astrid promise to take care of Toothless if things went awry. She thought he meant the dragon, but he meant the Vikings.

He _was_ right but only to a short extent. A very short extent. The Monstrous Nightmare approached him, ready to kill his imprisoner when Hiccup threw away anything offending that he had on him.

That made the dragon pause and look at the strange human in confusion which grew even more when he stretched out a hand to him, cooing calm and reassuring words. The Nightmare calmed down and tentatively reached towards the human.

"Stop the fight!" Hiccup's dad said. "No! You all need to see this. They are not dangerous!" Hiccup protested. Stoick hit his hammer on metal bending it with a loud clang, "I said STOP THE FIGHT!" he yelled, effectively startling the dragon.

It immediately burst into flames and went into defence mode, ready to kill the human boy who tried to trick him. There was panic on Hiccup's face as he tried to run from the Nightmare but to no avail.

Astrid ran into the ring to try and do some damage control and get Hiccup out but that only seemed to infuriate the dragon further. Stoick opened a gate and motioned for his son and his friend to get out.

While Astrid got out safely, Hiccup was redirected by the fire from the Nightmare. Few minutes later, he was pinned to the ground under the Nightmare's claws, Hiccup's face, a picture of pure unadulterated terror.

He heard a wheeze, an explosion and a few yells of 'Night Fury!' 'Toothless!' Hiccup thought. Smoke filled the arena as the Night Fury fought the dragon trying to kill his friend. He beat the Nightmare into submission and he slunk back into his cage in defeat.

Hiccup ran to Toothless, "Alright, Toothless, go! You need to go!" he whisper yelled at his dragon, trying to push him forward but Toothless was in full on protective mode, treating anything that approached his rider as a threat.

And there were too many people approaching the boy. People who'd killed thousands of his kind without showing and kind of mercy. He growled at the onslaught of vikings coming towards him.

'Work, you stupid brain," Hiccup thought as he tried to come up with a solution. Then it struck him. He threw himself on the ground next to Toothless. "Toothless, pounce on me, now!" he said to his dragon.

The dragon obeyed without any hesitation, completely trusting Hiccup like he did when they flew together. "Growl, Toothless, Growl," Hiccup whispered instructions. Toothless looked at Hiccup and growled ferociously, baring his teeth and keeping it close to Hiccup's frail body.

"Stop! The devil's got my son! Stop!" Stoick yelled and all the vikings halted in their paths. "Now, growl at them and fire a shot at the log locking the dragon cage," Hiccup whispered, Toothless's paw covering his mouth.

Toothless growled at the vikings and fired what seemed like a warning shot. The log holding the dragon prison splintered and all the dragons rushed out, eager to be free. Hiccup used the distraction to get on Toothless.

"Fly, Toothless, come on, bud. We need to get out of here," Hiccup said, opening his tail wing. Toothless beat his wing and flew out of the arena. "Daaaaad!" Hiccup yelled from Toothless's back to give some authenticity.

The vikings were trying to get the dragons back in their cages. "Alright, now that should by us some time. Come on, bud," Hiccup said, navigating Toothless through another way through the woods which could never lead to their secret cove.

He landed Toothless and got off, "Alright, Toothless, get back to the cove but stay low. If anyone comes hide in the water and come out only if Astrid or I ask you to. Got it?" he asked the dragon.

Toothless nodded, intelligent eyes widening in understanding as he took off to the cove. Hiccup laid on the ground, rubbing mud and grime on himself, ruffling his hair and tearing small holes in his clothes for when the Berkians find him.

When a search part consisting of his dad, Gobber, Spitelout and four more vikings found him, he was panting from the adrenaline coursing through his blood stream. To the others, he probably looked terrified.

Which is how the normal viking would feel after getting snatched up by a Night Fury. Stoick forgot all about the fiasco in the arena, helping his son up and running his hands all over his tiny, fragile body.

"Hiccup, are you alright. Did that devil hurt you?" Stoick asked, panic evident in his voice. Hiccup shook his head, "He didn't even scratch me. Guess he only needed me to escape. He dropped me here and flew off. He didn't hurt me at all. Dad, I thought you said dragons always go for the kill.

"But neither the Nightmare nor the Fury hurt me because I was unarmed," Hiccup said, trying to convince his father, very subtly, that dragons were more than they thought they were. Stoick looked confused as well.

"The Nightmare tried to kill you, Hiccup. What are you talking about?" he asked, trying to mask his doubt with anger. "But that was only after you startled him, dad. What if everything we know about the dragons is wrong?

"The Night Fury is the fiercest of them all and he—it didn't hurt me. Like, at all," Hiccup said, defending his dragon. "Did you just call the dragon a he?" Stoick asked in surprise. Hiccup raised his hands in a placating gesture, "Look, that doesn't matter. Dad, this changes everything. Don't you get it?"

"What are you trying to say, son?" Stoick asked him as they walked back. "It means the dragons are not just mindless creatures who want to kill. There's something going on, dad. We need to find out what, without hurting the dragons or losing more vikings," Hiccup said.

"Now I know you could care less about what this talking fishbone could say but think about it. I'm convinced that we can make peace with the dragons. We just have to be patient and trust them," Hiccup said, gesturing wildly and stopping before he could expose his secret any further.

Stoick frowned, "You talk as if you've experienced it. As if you've already showed mercy to a dragon," he growled. "No, no, that's not it. When I thought I hit a Night Fury, I went searching for it and instead of finding a Night Fury, a Nadder found me.

"I held my breath and begged for it to not notice me, but it didn't even growl at me, dad and I wasn't even in its blind spot. It looked at me curiously and came close, slowly, as if I were the threat.

"Then I just held out my hand because I was curious, just to see what it would do. It let me touch it and stroke it, dad! And then it took off, in such a hurry as if something was calling it." Hiccup finished.

"You're—you're not lying. But this can't be! How on earth can this be possible? Oh Odin help us. If this is true for every dragon, it means we've been doing something very wrong," Stoick said, eyes widening.

"Wait what? You're listening to me? What's going on here? Did you hit your head? You _never_ listen to me! You never give me the time of day!" Hiccup yelled, incredulously. "Hiccup, when you were in the ring, the dragon didn't hurt you. You were calming it down. I've never seen it before.

"I didn't want to believe it either. That we could've resolved this conflict peacefully instead of making it a bloodbath. Looks like all we needed was a bit of—this, Stoick said, gesturing to Hiccup.

"You just gestured to all of me," Hiccup said, "How—Why do you believe me? Why now?" "Because two dragons spared you today, Hiccup. When the Night Fury let the other dragons out, they didn't try to hurt us. All they wanted was to fly away. The Terror wanted some fish though. It stole Bucket's lunch," Stoick said, thoughtful.

Hiccup was overjoyed and ecstatic. He wanted to show his dad his best friend more than anything but he had to proceed with caution. Under no circumstances could he ever allow Toothless to be harmed by humans.

"Let me show you, dad. They can be trained," Hiccup said. Stoick the Vast nodded. "Let's go back to the arena. The dragons are still there. We didn't let them escape," Stoick said. Hiccup nodded, "We might need some fish," he said.

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"Hiccup, that was amazing!" Stoick said, amazed as he saw his son surrounded by dragons and petting them. The dragons were like over grown puppies, adoring the attention and looking for more.

"Alright, I need some volunteers to ride these dragons," Hiccup said, looking at the crowd. "I've got that covered. Just tell us what we have to do, Hiccup," Astrid said, bringing along Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut.

"Perfect. First we'll get you acquainted with your dragons. It's important for you to trust each other. Then I'll teach you everything I know," Hiccup said, gesturing them forward. "Everything you know? What's that supposed to mean," Stoick asked.

Hiccup rubbed his neck, sheepishly, "I may not have been honest with you. I have to show you something, but not right now. Right now, this is more important," Hiccup said, gesturing to the newly calmed dragons.

"I'll drop it for now," Stoick said, gruffly and watched his son work his magic. He was astonished as to how Hiccup knew so much about dragons when they've never even been able to get within a feet of one without it attacking.

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Hiccup and his father walked through the woods. "Raven Point. Didn't you say this is where you saw the Night Fury go down after you hit it?" Stoick asked. "Look, you need to follow my lead here. If you do anything out of place, you're gonna get hurt. You left your hammer behind, didn't you?" Hiccup asked.

Stoick sighed, "I can't believe you made me come here disarmed and not knowing what we're gonna face," he said. " _I_ know what we're going to face and that's enough," Hiccup said, sternly.

"Yea, that's what I'm worried about," Stoick said. They walked for quite a distance till they reached the place where the trees were destroyed and pieces of net were on the ground. A few minutes later, they were standing in front of an opening to the cove.

"What is this place?" Stoick asked as he and Hiccup got down. "I hate going into the unknown, unarmed. Got thing I brought this," Stoick said, whipping out a dagger. Hiccup tensed, "No, no! No weapons! Why do you never listen to me! Dad, What did I te—" his sentence was cut short by a black mass shooting out of the water.

"Night Fury," Stoick whispered as the dragon roared and wrapped its body around his son's daring him to come any closer, its eyes in slits. "Dad, throw away the dagger! Now!" Hiccup said, laying a hand on Toothless's head.

"Hiccup it looks really angry, like it may pounce anytime," Stoick said, pale as parchment. "This is Toothless and he's a he! Don't call him an 'it'. He's very protective of me _and_ he hates you. The dagger is not helping matters so _throw. It. Away!"_ Hiccup said, enunciating his words.

Stoick wordlessly threw the dagger away as far as he could. The dragon stopped growling at him but its— _his_ eyes were still in slits and his body was still curved around Hiccup. "Toothless, hey, hey, it's okay. _I'm_ okay," he said, slowly, talking the dragon's face in his tiny hands and looking into his mesmerizing green eyes.

Toothless calm down and licked Hiccup joyfully and nuzzled him. Hiccup laughed and scratched behind Toothless's ear, "I know, bud, I love you too," he said as Toothless nuzzled his cheek.

"Is that a saddle?" Stoick asked, surprised. "Uh huh. Toothless can't fly on his own. So I made him a tail and a harness that controls it. We fly together whenever he wants to," Hiccup said.

"So the Night Fury that bust into the ring . . ." Stoick trailed off, "Was Toothless. He sensed I was in trouble and came to protect me. I almost forgot. Dad, empty the bag I gave you in front of Toothless," Hiccup said.

A heap of Icelandic Cod fell out and Toothless bellowed happily and went to eat it. Hiccup looked fondly at Toothless and stroked his back, "It's his favourite fish," he said. "You've done it, Hiccup! You've mended the rift between Berkians and dragons. You've done the impossible," Stoick said.

"There's so much I have to tell you. You might want to sit down," Hiccup said as he sat next to Toothless and leaned back against him. Toothless curled around him and extended a wing to shield him from the cold wind that he was shivering from.

Stoick sat back against a rock, "He really is protective of you, isn't he?" he asked and Hiccup nodded fondly, cuddling into his dragon and told Stoick everything that had happened since the day he freed Toothless.

"So what do we do now?" Stoick asked. "Give some time to train the others with their dragons. We can formulate a strategy and defeat the queen, vikings and dragons working side by side," Hiccup said.

"Hiccup, I'm so proud of you. Thank you for enlightening me, my boy. You will make a fine chief one day," Stoick said and Hiccup's answering smile warmed the father to his very core

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 **So Do Review. I'm thoroughly attention starved**

 **Daughter of Poseidon**

 **Jen Cullen**


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